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Monitor that won't break the bank

smitty8202

smitty8202

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 18, 2011
82
12
Okinawa, Japan
I have a MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015. I am looking for a good monitor to hook up to it. I don't need a 4-5 hundred dollar monitor. Just something that will have enough real estate on it to have Xcode open and maybe one other window as well, but at the same time not not have any lack in good graphics. Would like to go with a 27" and be no more than around $350. What would you recommend?
 
Hi
4K monitor-
For $306.61 the 24'' fullfilled by amazon (dont buy from 3rd party) the 28" is $399.99 so if you are okay with 24" if falls into budget.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00Y...g+U24E590D&dpPl=1&dpID=51j3qmKvJrL&ref=plSrch

You need this adapter:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00YOQYQWY/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1 for plug and play.

Mains is required for the rMBP 2015.

I have this display with my mid 2015 rMBP 13" and highly recommend it.
I paid £279.99 for my 24", it 'just works' its like a 2015 iMac
 
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Monoprice has a good selection of monitors in that price range. They just released a new premium 1440p display, essentially the same as the non-retina iMac for $280. They also have a few 4K options for ~$350
 
smitty8202 said:
what would be worn with going with a 1080p monitor?
Click to expand...
You want to go with a 1080p monitor when you'll be using Xcode? Seems like a bad idea to me personally. I need at least 2560*1440 and I used a Dell P2416D for that.

I've since replaced it with a 4K monitor, even better. The cheapest run about 400 euros now.
 
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That will be something like 108 pixels per inch. Depending on your eyesight and preferences, that might be a little small for text at ordinary point sizing, but not excessively so, and you can always raise the font size. It's a TN panel so you might not get the color reproduction and viewing angle that you'd get from an IPS panel. Sounds like a decent enough monitor on paper.
 
TN panels are older tech, they have very fast response time (good for gaming) but not so hot as far as color gamut and viewing angle. IPS panels have good color range, wide viewing angle, slower response times so fast motion can appear blocky or blurred. VA panels are a bit of a compromise between the two.

If you're a gamer you might want a fast-response TN panel. If you do photography or video editing you might want IPS for color reproduction. If you aren't always in front of the monitor you might want IPS or VA for the viewing angle. IPS isn't so good with mostly-black scenes.

I rather suspect that you won't notice the color limitations of a good TN panel unless you're a color nabob of some sort, or have an IPS panel to compare to it.

For what it's worth (not much):
TN = twisted nematic
IPS = in-plane switching
VA = vertical alignment (there appear to be a few variations of VA)

There are other panel technologies such as OLED but not at your price point.
 
It sounds like you are mostly going to be using this for code development based on your reference to XCode. As a software engineer I really prefer IPS displays. The better viewing angles and color reproduction really helps :) I've got a machines with both TN and IPS. On the TN I occasionally have to move my head slightly to recognize the color coding of the text in my text editor. Really only a very slight inconvenience.

My guess is the TN Acer you picked out is better than the Dell TN panels I have so it may not be an issue for you anyways.
 
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